Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-28
THE DEAD DENTIST.
Charged With Burning the
Barley Barn.
NO DIRECT EVIDENCE YET.
Testimony of Notary Public and
the Man Who Saw q Woman
Etg Join Harlan.

The City JUSTICES Court was
crowded again yesterday when the
cause of the People VS.. Hattie Wool
steen was called at 9 80 o'clock. The
character of the evidence adduced by
the People on Tuesday and Wednes-
day and again yesterday morning has
by no means been of the startling
character that had been anticipated
by the people who may be said to
have camped in the Court room from
early morning until adjournment OF
Court. Indeed up to the present,
though the violent death OF DIR. G. N.
Harlan has been proved beyond
doubt. no testimony has been adduced
vet. connecting Miss Woolsteen with
the commission of the crime. 1t is
true that the most material witnesses
in the case-the officers who worked
it UP have not yet been heard. Their
evidence will come this morning, and
will no doubt be intensly interesting
and if report is to be believed damag-
ing in the extreme to the defendant.
At the same time the prosecution
cannot but be aware that their theory
of the murder of Harlan by Hattie
contains many weak points which
NAV defeat their aim. Otherwise it
would have been found unnecessary
for them to have filed the following
complaint:
"BURNING A BARN.
On the 25th of October P. M. Darcy,
Chief of Police OF Los Angeles City,
being duly sworn, charges THAT Hat
tie Woolsteen on the 9th OF October,
1887, at Compton or near thereto,
the crime of felony, to wit {:
burning a barn" The alleged crime |
is thus described: ''That she did un-
maliciously and feloniously
set fire to and burn certain building,
a barn, in the night time, said barn |
belonging to the estate Of Emelina A.
then deceased, of which es-
tate VIM. J. McCaldin is now admin
istrator, the said barn at the time |
being situated on tract OF land be-
longing to said estate, which land is |
adjoining to the land of c. w. Cotton
on the one side and land occupied
by Henry Poor ON the other, about
one and one-half miles west from
Compton, on what is called Lemon
There are about thirty v itnesses
in this case, all OF whom
are witnesses in the murder exAmina-
tion. The warrant has not been
served upon the defendant, and will
not be unless the murder examination
should turn out failure and the
Court should order the prisoner dis
charged.
THE EXAMINATION PROCEEDS.
When the case was called by Just
ice Austin yesterday morning, Hon.
S. NJ. White, one OF the counsel for
the defendant was absent, he being |
detained elsewhere, but
Col Wells being willing that the case
should proceed, District Attorney |
DuvsIv called his first witness.
THE NOTARY PuDLiG.
Il. A. Ling: knew DIR. G. n. Har-
Ian. saw him last OH the 9th OF Oc-
tcber, between 5 and o'clock, at my
office. His wife was with him. 1t
was after sundown. The electric
lights were lighted. They came to
have me draw bond for two deeds
for lots at Whittier, in favor OF Miss
Hattie Woolsteen. Here is the bond.
At the time there were in my office
Mr.. Matthews and Mr.. Cook, who
keep book store on the opposite side.
| filled out the bond. / have
not seen the doctor since.
,rhe lots stood in the name
Of Mrs. Harlan. The signature on the
bond is hers. Six hundred and ninety |
dollars was to be paid down and $40
was to be kept back. The consldera-
ton was 500. / never had seen Hat
tie Woolsteen until | saw her in the |
Chief of Policies office. knew both |
Harlan and his wife before; they had
been i'll my office.
Colonel Wells--Mr. Ling, when you |
20 back to your office will you ascer- !
tain il YOU ever took an acknowledge |
ment OF DIR. Harlan's signature to a |
power OF attorney drawn by him in
favor of his wife, and if SO, on what
date the document was signed?
Witness, resuming-They told me,
as near as can recollect, that 5000
was to be paid on Saturday and $40
within one year. The doctor stated
that. Mrs. Harlan joined in the con-
versation. She wanted to know If the |
payment of $500, leaving $40 to be
paid afterwards, was as good as any
other way. Hattie Woolsteen never
called at my office for this bond. l
don't know ii she knew anything about
it or not.
AN EXPERT ON CUTS.
John II. Simpson, of East Los An
reles-I am merchant tailor, under
the ST. Elmo Hotel. (The witness
was here requested by the District
Attorney to examine the cut in the
buggy-top curtain.) 1 have examined
that cut before in the livery stable
barn. -,
@. What was the cut made with,
in YOUR opinion? Question objected
to by the defense as being irrelevant,
incompetent, and because the defend
ant had not been connected with the
curtain. Argument. Objection over
ruled.) To the best Of my knowledge
II was with knife. The part where
there is leather was cut with a knife
and the bottom with shears. wit
ness shows cut to the court and ex-
plains his reasons for the theory.) 1t
would take very large shears to cut
the leather, therefore conclude that
- ,,r,o o,,+ ,,;tl, n Enifp ThprA is q